1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to network application development, and specifically to a network system that installs an application and/or application changes from a server computer to a client computer on an as needed basis.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern data processing systems are often implemented in network configuration such as "client/server" configurations in which a number of client computers, typically personal computers or workstations, communicate with one or more "server" computers and request server computers to perform processing tasks.
One such task performed by server computers is to install new applications, i.e., computer applications, or update existing applications on client computers. A known method of performing this task is to automatically and periodically install all new applications or application changes on each client computer. However, periodically installing all new applications or application changes on each client computer is time consuming and wastes valuable system resources because not all users need all the applications or application changes that are on the client/server system. Moreover, recent changes made to an application on a client computer may result in over writing files during the installation process that do not require further changes.
Another known installation method, designed to use system resources more efficiently than the above-described method, is to notify all users when an application module has changed or when a new application module is available so that users may select and control which application modules or application changes will be installed on their computer. However, this method requires that users themselves instruct the system to install the desired applications or application changes. This method, however, may lead to human errors that would cause the application files to be corrupted or incorrectly installed.
Therefore, it is desirable to have a more reliable and efficient system and method for installing and updating applications on a client computer than is currently known.